


A Most Surreal Day

by postmortem



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-05 06:38:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5365139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/postmortem/pseuds/postmortem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a day in Emma Swan's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Most Surreal Day

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote something fluffy, and I can't incorporate it into [365 Days and Not Counting](http://archiveofourown.org/series/312647), so I'm posting this as a separate story.

Today has been the most surreal day of my life, and trust me, I have had some _really_ surreal ones. Do the words Dragon Slayer, Savior, or Dark One ring any bells?

But I think it’s safe to say that the day you and Regina Mills kiss, it's quite alright to question reality, given that she’s not just anyone.

She’s definitely… something.

* * *

It all starts relatively normal. I oversleep, which in turn makes the kid oversleep, so we both skip showers, and we jump into Granny’s for breakfast takeout. Regina has warned me about making him late, and I’m not about to risk her wrath. It’s not even my regular day with Henry, he begged to stay over last night so he could play some more chess with his grandfather. That’s what has become of our son. The Charmings think it’s wonderful.

After I drop him off at school, just as the bell rings, I go back to Granny’s to get myself another cup of coffee. As I settle into a booth with the newspaper, I feel someone staring daggers into the back of my head, and I turn around.

“Miss Swan, I saw you run out of here with my son earlier. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you made him late for school?”

So in true Emma Swan fashion, I promptly dig my own grave, and say “You don’t _always_ know better, Regina. And _our_ son.”

She grins and does that thing with her eyebrow.

Then she sits down across from me and sighs. “Headaches, still?”, I ask. She nods. Ever since she saved me from the darkness, she has been plagued by them. She and Rumplestiltskin think that it’s probably exhaustion from the large amount of magic she had to use. I think that she is paying for something that should have been mine to pay for. The darkness doesn’t like being fucked around.

She looks tired, and her eyes rival mine during my best pre-curse days. I tell her to scoot over and to face the window, then I get up and kneel on the seat right next to her. I pull her hair back, and put my fingertips on her temples, trying not to shake, then I start rubbing gently in small circles. Sometimes this helps. She has goosebumps on her upper arms, and I chuckle. After a while, I can feel her relax, and she _almost_ lets herself lean back into me, but catches herself in time.

Before she leaves, she puts her hand on mine and says “thank you, that helped”.

She doesn’t kiss me then.

* * *

Two hours later, flowers are being delivered to my office. I tell the delivery girl that they must be for my deputy, because my mother is a cheeseball and would totally send him flowers, but she insists they are for me. My father laughs, plucks out the card, and hands it to me. It clearly says Sheriff Swan.

Number of times someone has sent Emma Swan flowers: One, as of today.

The card reads “Thank you! Love, R.”

Ruby? Little Roland? Robin Hood? Should I check for poisoned pine cones?

They have to be from Regina. And that makes my heart beat really, really fast. Because Regina is... something to me. We are connected in more ways than just one, and I can think of some others that I would like to explore. Thinking about this, about her, makes my whole body and my whole mind long for something, and I don’t know exactly what it is, but it has to do with her. And her smile. And her arms. And her lips. And you are in deep shit, Emma Swan.

I must be blushing, because my father says “uh oh, someone is smitten”, and I question his choice of words, but I just grin and say “no, they are from Regina, I helped her with something”.

Dad winks at me and says “strangely, that just made you blush even more”.

I tell him to shut up, and excuse myself to the bathroom. There, I text Regina, and thank her for the flowers, and I tell her that they are beautiful, and I delete the “just like you” before I hit send.

Then I go back, and my dad is gone, and I sit down at my desk, and I try to concentrate on my reports, but my eyes keep going back to the flowers, and my fingers are trying to recreate the feeling of touching her face earlier today. I get up and make myself some coffee, and I wonder why Regina hasn’t replied, and exactly 73 minutes after my last message, I re-type “just like you”, and then I accidentally send it.

Half a second later, I hear a beep outside the door, and then Regina walks in, phone in hand, reading a message she just received. She stops dead in her tracks, looks up, and our eyes meet, and then she looks back down, and then she smiles. And it’s the most beautiful smile ever, and I ask “too forward?”, and she smiles even brighter, and says “not at all, Miss Swan”. She reaches into her purse and pulls out a takeout bag, and she puts it on my desk.

She doesn’t kiss me then either.

* * *

She runs her fingers down my forearm, whispers “thank you”, turns around, and leaves.

I open the bag and find a bear claw.

Later, at lunchtime, I meet up with my mother at the apartment. As soon as I walk in, she smirks, and I ask her what’s going on. She says “she could have just bought you coffee to say thank you, you know”. I roll my eyes, because _of course_ she already knows. And she asks me how I would feel if Regina had more than friendly feelings for me, and I tell her not to joke about things like that, and she gives me a surprised look. And tells me that I have been looking at the mayor with puppy eyes for quite a while now, and that everyone knows. And that oh by the way, Henry and Regina are coming for lunch.

I ask “does Regina know about my puppy eyes?”, and she cups my cheek and says “oh my darling girl, Regina is just waiting for you to wake up”.

I don’t have time to really think about what she said, because the door opens, and my hurricane of a son waltzes in, exclaiming how hungry he is, happily sticking his nose into his grandmother’s pots. I’m standing in the middle of the room like a tree, watching the door as my son’s other mother enters. She stops for a moment, and she seems strangely shy, then she says “hi”, and she smiles. I take a step towards her, and I take her coat, and I say “hi yourself”, and she laughs and puts her hand on my back as she leads me into the kitchen. I break out in tingles, and I hope that she can’t magically feel them.

We eat, and Henry and my mom talk enough for all of us. I try not to stare at Regina, and I almost succeed. But she’s beautiful, and looking away is hard. Then we are done eating, and we carry our dishes out, and we bend down to put our plates in the dishwasher at the exact same time, and our faces are just inches from each other.

She still doesn’t kiss me.

* * *

I am being called to an emergency then, intruder at Robin Hood’s camp, and it’s hilarious, but I stay professional. I manage not to think about Regina too much, until Robin asks me how she is doing, and I tell him that when I had lunch with her half an hour ago, she was doing fine. And he looks constipated, and jealous, and sad, and it makes me happy, because I’m scum. David shoots me a glare, begging me silently not to take it too far. I let him deal with the rest and go back to the station.

There is a note waiting for me, saying “you missed dessert, check the fridge, R.” I walk into the little kitchen and do as she said, and there is a plate with a piece of chocolate cake in there, and another note. I grab a fork and start eating, then I read.

“Have you been flirting with me today, Miss Swan? Don’t forget about dinner tonight, Henry has requested lasagna.”

I nearly drop the plate.

* * *

The afternoon seems to drag on forever. When it’s finally time to leave, I head straight up to the mansion. Even from outside, I can already smell the deliciousness that is Regina’s cooking. I just stand there for a few moments, trying to prepare myself for being in the same room with her again, and my heart beats fast, and I’m afraid that my palms will get sweaty, and I drag my fingers through my hair to tame the beast, and… the door opens.

“Would you _please_ come in, Miss Swan, you’re making me nervous standing in front of my kitchen window staring into space.”

Oops.

I notice that she’s wearing an apron, and I’ve never had a particular thing for aprons before, but I guess now I do. She just shakes her head and murmurs “you really need to get that staring under control...” And then she winks, and turns around to walk back into the kitchen, and that view doesn’t exactly make my heart slow down, if you know what I mean.

Soon we are all sitting in the dining room, laughing, joking, talking. Family. Regina and I are sharing a bottle of wine, Henry drinks grape juice from a wine glass, the warm glow of the fireplace is painting all our faces in a golden light. I could get used to this, I think. Henry excuses himself then, to go do homework. I help Regina carry everything back to the kitchen, but she makes me sit at the counter when I try to help her clean up. Our phones are sitting right in front of me, and when one of them pings, my eyes are automatically drawn down, in case it’s an emergency at the station.

It isn’t. It’s not even my phone. It’s Regina’s, and the message says “I know you still love me, we can’t throw away true love, please follow your heart!”, and it’s from Robin Hood. I slowly turn my head to look at her, and she turns hers at the same time, and then she walks over and reads the message, and she says “Emma, no!” She puts her hand around my wrist, pulling me towards her a little.

She doesn’t kiss me, and she lets go when I turn around and leave.

* * *

I nearly run down the walkway, just wanting to get to my car and leave. I fumble for my keys, open the door, get in. I try to catch my breath for a second, and turn the key. My car makes a short rumbling noise, then nothing. I try it again, but the only thing coming out of the old bug is a wheezing sound. I hit the steering wheel with my fist, and try to hold back my tears of frustration. I let my forehead hit the wheel, and then the passenger side door opens. I don’t look up, and someone is getting in, and pulling the door closed. A hand softly grabs my shoulder and pulls me back. “Looks like you may have to stay”, she says, matter-of-factly. I turn my head, and I look at her, and her eyes are sparkling, and she moves her hand from my shoulder to my cheek. I lean into the touch, and I take her other hand, and I exhale, finally. She smiles her adorably genuine smile and whispers “what are you waiting for?”

And that’s when I kiss her.


End file.
